Monday, April 23, 2012

Any time a developer puts together a
game based on an historical event, there’s going to be a tradeoff between
accuracy and playability. Whether it’s a tabletop sim or a computer game, some
situations just aren’t easily recreated, or would cause a serious problem with
game balance. Even the most accurate Japanese history sims like Magitech’s
“Takeda” series (that uses actual maps of castles and cities and features some
battles that even the developers say are impossible to win-just as they were in
history), Paradox’s “Sengoku”, or Si-Phon’s “Genpei Souran: Shogun E No Michi”
have to take liberties with history in order to give the player some
flexibility in options and play style (to say nothing of dispensing with a lot
of micromanagement and recordkeeping). Other games like the Nobunaga No Yabou
(Nobunaga’s Ambition) series stray from history even further, introducing
abstract arcade style battles and making certain characters supermen that tower
over everyone else. Which brings us to today’s selection-Creative Assembly’s “Total War Shogun 2: Fall of the Samurai”. Fall of the Samurai is a ‘stand-alone/expansion’ that
purports to recreate the turbulent times of the Bakumatsu and early Meiji
period where the Tokugawa Shogunate fell and the samurai class was abolished.
While CA’s Shogun games have often played fast and loose with history, this
time around they’ve managed to take things a step further and create a Japan
that has more in common with the Union and Confederacy of the American Civil
War than it does the supporters of the Shogunate and Emperor. Total War has
become Total Fantasy.

Take a look at the box artwork above for
Fall of the Samurai-it tells you all you really need to know about the game. An
American officer brandishing a revolver shares the cover with a samurai in
traditional elaborate armor. If this doesn’t bring to mind a certain blockbuster movie starring Tom Cruise, then CA’s marketing department hasn’t
done its job. The modernization of Japan and the influence exerted on it by
Western countries (particularly England, France, and the United States-for whatever
reason, the Russians, Prussians, and the Dutch are omitted) are the focal point of the game, and about
forty years of real time are telescoped into the 6-12 years that the game plays
out in. This results in armies on both the Shogunate and Imperial sides that
wield an incredible amount of firepower and highly developed naval forces-far
more than Japan would ever have been able to accumulate or more
importantly, afford. To accommodate the wishes of
the game’s largely European and North American player base, CA has not only
given them ‘Foreign Veteran’ agents (think Nathan Algren from “The Last
Samurai”, or historical French advisor Jules Brunet) that can join Japanese
armies and engage in combat/duels, but also allows players to field Western
army units. That’s right-you can have units of US Marines (or their
British/French counterparts) under the direct command of the Shogunate. Now, we
can see allowing these units to appear in the game as allies. After all, it
only makes sense that a US/Brit/French unit would defend the commercial interests
of their country in Japan-and that sometimes this might have them fighting
alongside the Shogunate or Imperialists. But to have them under the DIRECT
CONTROL of the Japanese? Ridiculous. It serves no function other than to let
Westerners shoehorn their own culture into the ‘mystique’ of the
samurai-something which has been going on since (at least) “James Clavell’s
Shogun” and movies like “The Hunted”, “The Barbarian and the Geisha”, and the
glorious “Bushido Blade” but rarely this blatantly. Want some laughs?
Check out some of the game cinemas, where the Emperor sans his retinue is shown
chatting with Western advisors at the dockyards in 1864, or the Shogun is shown
doing the same thing (and depicted in Court Robes at that).

Don’t even get us started on the
myriad of different unit types that can be fielded. Past players of the Total
War: Shogun series already know that CA loves to throw in ‘chrome’ units that
have little to no historical justification. The player base just loves ‘em
whether they existed or not. In the past we’ve seen units armed exclusively
with katana or no-dachi-yeah, right. Crossbow ashigaru? This ain’t China, bub.
Fall of the Samurai has Imperial Infantry, Line Infantry, Shogunate Guards, Imperial Guards,
Republican Guards, Tosa rifles, Kihetai,
Shogitai, Yugekitai,
Tortoises, Phoenixes, Red Bears, Black Bears, White Bears, Dragons, and Tigers, oh my-and
more. All of these represent virtually the same type of unit-Japanese troops
armed with Western rifles. The only difference is that Japanese units tended to
get impressive sounding names rather than numbers, but CA gives them all
different stats, special attacks, and abilities. If they wanted to
differentiate troops, a much better way would have been to do so by the type of
rifles they were armed with (they did do this with cavalry)-something that was a big factor in making the Imperialists
stronger than the Shogunate. One interesting side note is that while Shogun 2
has at least three different female units, Fall of the Samurai has none-despite
the fact that women played a much, much bigger part in the Boshin war than they
did during the Genpei War or Sengoku Jidai.

Economic development gets the same
treatment. While you can’t build railways in every province, you can put
together an impressive network that stretches from one end of Honshu to the
other. Of course, what the developers seem not to have realized is that the
first railway in Japan wasn’t completed until 1872, and was an extremely short
line between Tokyo and Yokohama. This means that the short campaign (ending in
1870) shouldn’t have them at all, and that even the long campaign (which runs
until 1876) shouldn’t have any sort of rail net-what existed in Japan at that
time were a handful of very short, isolated lines. Quite simply, Japan
couldn’t afford to build them. Rails were probably thrown into the game for their ‘kewl’ factor-CA obviously hasn’t
read Dan Free’s book.

The
game map is also a massive failure, being province based instead of han based. We
understand they wanted to build on the regular Shogun 2 map, which is province
based. And they did add parts of Ezo and a few other islands. And yes, there
were over 200 han during the Edo period, which would have made things a bit too
complex for some players. However, using provinces instead of han virtually
strips the game of any claim to realistic starting positions-not to mention
leaving out many important clans. In many cases the daimyo given for the han
seem to be invented out of whole cloth (we’re getting to that), as were their
loyalties to the Shogunate/Imperialists. The set-up you see is about as
abstract as it gets. A province based map also ensures that the Tokugawa
Shogunate has no real footprint on this version of Japan-and as you can see by the map in this thread on the Samurai Archives, they had the largest holdings
in Japan.

This
brings us to the game’s largest failing. You can play as all four of the
Imperial ‘Satchotohi’ factions who were the prime forces that brought an end to
the Bakufu-Satsuma, Choshu, Tosa and Hizen (represented by Saga). But you CAN’T
play as the Tokugawa Shogunate, the single most powerful faction in Japan and
ruler of the country-five times wealthier than the closest daimyo. The Tokugawa
are virtually invisible in-game. If you look at ‘Edo’ domain in game, they give
its daimyo as Matsui Yasuhide, a fictitious name. If they meant Matsudaira
Yasuhide-then he was far north of Edo in 1864, and even when he was transferred
to Kawagoe in 1866, wouldn't be considered part of Edo-Kawagoe was a separate
han. Nope, totally wrong-how hard would it have been to just use Tokugawa
Iemochi, the Shogun who did count Edo among his holdings? Instead we get Aizu
and some minor loyal factions like Obama, Jozai, Nagaoka, and latecomers
Sendai. Why? While the spread out nature of the Tokugawa holdings might have
presented a problem to an accurate in-game representation, it also would have
provided players with a unique challenge-a faction that has huge holdings and a
foothold in every part of the country but whose exposed position and fragile
condition leaves it wide open to conquest. It just seems to us the Tokugawa
were left out because the developers wanted to avoid the play balance problems
that might have cropped up. However, leaving them out pretty much cripples the
entire game. Fall of the Samurai might as well be called “Total War: Kick the Shogun’s Ass”-a theme reflected in the ‘historical’ battles, all of which give
players control of Imperial Forces under Saigo ‘Worms’ Takamori.

And
what about those historical battles? As
a microcosm of the game’s failure as a sim, let’s take a look at one of them, the Battle of Osaka. This isn’t the famous series of
battles that took place in 1614-15 between the Toyotomi and Tokugawa, but
rather the action in 1868 that followed the Battle of Toba-Fushimi. What did
the Fall of the Samurai developers get right? Well, mostly just the stuff in
the opening and closing cut scenes. Tokugawa Yoshinobu did indeed abandon his
troops, board an American ship (although the game doesn’t bring that up) while
waiting for one of his own to pick him up, and then return to Edo. And the
Imperials did indeed burn large areas of the castle after occupying it. Pretty
much everything else here is wrong.

For all intents and purposes, there
was NO “Battle of Osaka” in 1868-the Shogunate troops largely followed the
leader when Yoshinobu abandoned the castle, and the few that were left
surrendered the castle peacefully to the Imperial army. Instead, the game has
the player assaulting a force over three times their size that’s entrenched in
one of the strongest castles ever built in Japan. This would not have ended
well for the Imperials had this been the case-one only has to look about ten
years into the future when a small Imperial force held off Saigo Takamori’s attackers at Kumamoto Castle to see what the outcome would have been. The
casualties during a
playthrough of this single battle end up being about
twice what the total was for the entire Boshin War. The layout of the town of
Osaka is completely wrong, but not as bad as the depiction of the castle. The
extent of the defenses, the schematics and number of the different ‘maru’, the
bridges running into the castle, even the location of the site of the tenshu
are all wrong. There’s a nicely developed railroad running from the harbor area
into town, but as we’ve already seen, Japan wouldn’t even see a rudimentary railroad for four more years.

The game action encourages players
to bombard the turrets of the castle, which are holding gunpowder that will
eventually be used to blow bridges (usually when players try to cross them).
Scoring a single hit on a turret causes a 4th of July explosion that
forces the enemy to abandon their defenses. Now how stupid would a defender
have to be to put their gunpowder in such an exposed position? Historically,
Osaka Castle’s gunpowder store building is one of the few original Tokugawa
structures to survive to the present day-precisely because it was located well
within the grounds and built to stand up to a bombardment.

But perhaps one mistake exemplifies
the developer’s disregard for history more than anything else. In the game there’s a really nice tenshu sitting right at the back of the
Osaka defenses. In looks, it resembles the original Toyotomi castle far more
than the Tokugawa version that replaced it. Of course, this fact really isn’t
all that important because in 1868 OSAKA CASTLE HAD NO TENSHU. It was struck by
lightning and burned to the ground around 200 years earlier (1665) and was
never rebuilt.

So
you would think after all this bitching that we hated the game-but that isn’t
the case. We love it! While it’s basically worthless as a simulation, it does
give one a sense of the essential issues of the Bakumatsu/early Meiji periods.
At the heart of everything is modernization and forming bonds with foreign
nations. To do so or not? Not doing so will keep your people happy, but leave
your military and economy weak and exposed. Doing so strengthens your economic
base and gives access to advanced units, but also ties up more of your
resources in policing an increasingly restless populace. Rebellions are far
more likely the more modernized your faction becomes and can easily destroy you
from within. Allying with the United States, British, or French will also give
players the opportunity to gain those Marine units we complained about a few
paragraphs back-not to mention unique ships like the HMS Warrior, which could
decimate enemy fleets all on its own.

Graphically,
the armies of the Bakumatsu are depicted in a realistic and accurate matter.
They look great. No one can do ‘real time battles’ like CA. Taking direct
command of your artillery batteries is great fun and becoming skilled at this
will make many battles (particularly the historical ones) much easier. Naval
battles are spectacular, with ships blowing up, taking torpedo hits, getting
rammed, hammered by shore batteries, and reduced to splinters by
nigh-invincible ironclads-all based on real ships and detailed to the max. Game
sound adds much to the goings-on with the crackle of gunfire, the scream of
incoming artillery, the deafening roar of a broadside, and the clang when two
ironclads ram each other. Special mention should be made of the game soundtrack-it’s
outstanding, possibly the best game soundtrack we’ve ever heard (even better
than the one for Yoshitsune Eiyuuden Shura). While it’s heavily Western
influenced (and actually sounds quite a bit like “The Last Samurai” soundtrack)
it does have a few Japanese motifs mixed in.

Gameplay
accurately reflects the new world of advanced firearms and artillery. Players
who are used to success by taking the direct approach in Shogun 2 are in for a
rude awakening in Fall of the Samurai. Marching directly towards the enemy is a
quick way to lose an entire army. Opposing forces are quick to seek cover and
to bolster each other with overlapping fields of fire. Players are rewarded for
being patient and meticulous, outmaneuvering the enemy and putting their big guns
out of commission with counter-fire. While players can make the choice to
eschew modernity, doing so will result in an extremely difficult and uphill
battle. We suggest new players try out the historical battles before tackling
the campaign just to become adjusted to combat. Trying to wind your way through
the mountains of Aizu with armies waiting in ambush on all sides and multiple
batteries of Armstrong and Parrott guns looming over the pass is quite the
task-and just a warm-up for the final assault on the castle. While spear and
sword units have lost much of their utility, they’re still very useful in
certain situations, and can easily turn the tide of battle for players who can
use them correctly.

Naval
warfare in Fall of the Samurai is massively stepped up from Shogun 2. You will
no longer be able to concentrate on developing your army at the expense of your
navy. Navies can now support land forces with artillery fire, bombard port defenses,
economic centers, and shore batteries, and interdict enemy amphibious invasions.
A navy is now vital to developing an economy as well as defending it.

Victory
in the game is much different than that in Shogun 2. There it was more about
conquering Japan for yourself. In Fall of the Samurai, it’s more about ensuring
that your faction comes out on top. Personal conquest matters less, but
supporting your allies in the Shogunate (or your fellow traitors in the
Imperial forces) becomes high priority. Brave players can also take the
opportunity to form an independent republic, telling both the Shogun and
Emperor to go screw themselves. As expected, this is for the very brave and
capable, as it results in virtually every other faction declaring war on you
and the defection of many of your agents and forces.

And
oh yeah, there are geisha in the game. But not the killing machine geisha of
past Shogun titles. Nope, here they’re back to doing what they do best-enchant,
inspire, entertain, and distract all of the men. Especially those gaijin
foreign veteran agents, who were no doubt as helpless against Japanese women as
they are these days. At any rate, the killing is now left to new agents like
those same foreign agents, the Shinsengumi, and Ishin Shishi. Not to mention
our old friend the Shinobi.

A
word here on Online Multiplayer. Many players don’t bother with multiplayer,
just sticking with the single player campaign. We’ve played a bit of it, and it’s
a mixed bag. Creative Assembly has put together a fun and varied multiplayer
experience with several different game modes and an option for up to four
playable avatars (we use one each for Genpei, Sengoku, Boshin Shogunate, and Boshin
Imperialist). You can play as a standard Shogun 2 army or a Fall of the Samurai
army, even pitting the two against each other in land combat (not naval
combat-that would be a King Kong sized mismatch). But the player base,
particularly in the Ranked matches, can be wretched. Many matches are not
decided by individual skill, but rather by players that find exploits in the
game system (whether it be Loan Swords or Tosa Rifles) and milk it for all it’s
worth (and then bitch like hell when CA patches the exploit). Many veteran
players mod their games to use functions like the ‘debug’ camera, giving them a
huge edge over players that don’t know about it. And we’ve played more than a
few matches where opponents with incredibly good won-loss records show just how
they got them-when they’re taking a pounding and ready to lose, they simply
break their internet connection. Viola, no loss! And the verbal abuse spilled
out by angry teenagers in ranked matches (whether they’re winning or losing) is
enough to burn the ears off a hardened sailor. Take our advice and skip ranked
matches. Unranked matches are a much more pleasant experience with a more laid
back player base, and after all, the whole idea of the game is to have fun.

So
is it worth picking up Fall of the Samurai? Yes, indeed. For all its failures
as a sim, the tradeoff is a game that is eminently playable and engaging. It
looks great. It sounds great. It plays great. For around $29, it’s also a
steal. Players would be wise to approach it much like the movie it channels, “The
Last Samurai”. Spectacular action, fun and exciting, and involving-but with
everything taking place in a Japan that has only the names and places in common
with the real thing. It’s a fantasy land that seems to have been developed more
as a beta test for the next Total War game (which by all indicators is going to
involve the Victorian Era/US Civil War). Yes, CA really should hook up with a
reliable Japanese historian (not Stephen Turnbull, a crass opportunist who’s
as careless and sloppy as they come) to weed out some of the more obvious and
easily avoidable errors. But they’ve still managed to produce a game that looks
and plays wonderfully and that conveys the general circumstances and atmosphere
of Bakumatsu era Japan. Historically, it’s Total Fantasy-but paradoxically the
fantasy of every gamer with an interest in this period of Japanese history.